'Z-word' monster pushed off the back burner

Couple of comments:

A few years ago my 92 year old mother, who lives in a small town in northern Ind., visited me for a few days. After spending a weekend here, going for a drive, going shopping with me, out to eat, to church, visiting a friend, etc., on Sunday afternoon shortly before she left she said, "I feel like I have stepped back in time about 30 years." To some that might be a compliment or it could be a put-down. Which way do you take it in this modern world?

Another thing ... a friend recently moved to the county and he commented on the fact that "it is a shame that you see a torn up mobile home right next to a very nice home." I say to him, I think it's a shame too. But in this county there is nothing you can do. And I'm just looking at zoning from the residential aspect. Commercial is another whole ball of wax!

I think maybe my 92 year old mom is right ... Greene County should move out of the last century and into this one.

I find both extremes crazy. Those that use words like Government control and Nazi and Socialism are no better than those that talk about a strip club next to your house. Neither one is realistic.

Dear notgreenenative:

I guess you are not considering the ramifications of what you are saying. Lets assume everything you said is exactly correct. You own a farm that is worth 4,000$/acre. As you put it:

What will happen to the accessed value of you property?

Ans. It will skyrocket.

So now because of westgate you now have property worth 10,000$/acre.

you will now be able to locate another piece of property and do a tax free exchange for 2.5 more acres. so you now have turned a 500 acre farm into a 1,250 acre farm.

Here is a serious question, can the same thing as zoning be accomplished with ordinances? could the same general rules be applied to a smaller area with ordinances?

Nick,

Please inform the public, when you Speak of "Facts", you say we want no part of the restrictive, intrusive plan that is being used to govern our neighbor. What part of the Monroe Co. zoning ordinance plan do we not want in Greene County?

tim burly freedom

I will try to answer your questions if you will answer mine.

"how much research was done in that fifteen minutes until you changed the subject?"

My responses were 15 minutes apart, the research took months. About a year ago myself and a local developer were looking for property near Westgate. I spent a couple of months searching. I found many willing to part with their farmland for 2.5 times the value and found no one that just had to keep it in the family at any price. Now I am not by any means saying this is a scientific study. I am trying to say that you have made up the exception to the rule. Just like those that say well what if a strip club wants to be in your back yard.

"name your soucres know it all"

Myself John Paul Coleman

"a little fish in a little pond does not IMPRESS me"

Not trying to impress anyone, and you are 100% correct I an a very little fish in a very little pond, I happen to like it that way.

"john coleman, what planet are YOU from."

Earth

Now I have a few questions for you:

1. Name one family that has had a farm in the family for 3-4 generations that will not sell for 2.5 times the value.

2. Do you believe that if there were such a family/person that it would be the norm or the minority?

I will continue to answer any questions you have only if you answer mine. The ball is in your court.

I am here, and you do not have less rights, you have the same rights that all have. IF zoning is passed it will not just apply to you. No laws/rules will be made with just your name on them.

As for tim burly freedom I again will say I have answered your questions will you answer mine?

I have sold out nothing, I have not made up my mind whether I am for against something that I do not know the details about.

Seriously, just for a moment think about the property I own near Linton. It is the old Linton airport, it has a row of nice houses that are along golf course rd next to the golf course. Now are you trying to tell me it ought to be allright for me to put a hog barn in? Should I be able to buy a lot in downtown linton and put a hog lot in? OF course not. Now with that said, should there be a governing board that tells me that I cannot put an antenna on my house? NO. So lets try to leave the extremes out of the argument and wait for details and judge on facts not conjecture.

"I'd hate to risk giving away the right to put up the antenna tower, something i might do, for protection against something that will likely never happen like the hog barn."

I guess I am lost, has someone asked you to do any of that?

Did you wind up purchasing some land near Westgate, John? If so, a bias by you and anyone in your shoes is understandable because you stand to profit. But the rest of the county outside that corridor are the ones that will ultimately pay for your gain. Where is the justice there?

I do not think it is biased to wait for details before making up ones mind!

Maybe some of you out there who want zoning should actually live in an area with zoning for a few years and then see how you feel about it, expecially if you own a farm or business. I have, and did for 20+ years and I can tell you I was overjoyed when I moved to Greene county. Zoning may start out as a promise to help the area, but like everything, it evolves into a night mare for those who farm or do business in a county. I can tell you from personal experience that with zoning, you have more problems with trashy places and undesirables. I have seen less of that problem here than I did there. The only thing zoning did was raise revenews for the counties, turn the code enforcement into cops,forced me to take all day off from work to obtain a permit, or spend countless hours jumping through the hoops to get an exemption. We still had topless bars, high grass & unkept properties. I have not see a topless place yet in Greene county.

And as far as propery values go, the farmers on this site are right, if your property is rezoned for commercial, by the zoning law they would be forced to stop farming and their taxes would go up, to meet the commercial rates. I acutally had a neighbor who did convience the county that my property was zoned differently than it actually was, it was a nightmare to prove that it was not. I had to put my business on hold for almost a year.

So think long and hard before you take this 1st step, there are other ways to promote growth in a healthy way.

Mason,

You are still missing the point, even with zoning we still had problems with junk yards, zoning does not alway fix the problem, it took years ( 10yrs) and thousands ($250,000.00) of taxpayer $ to drive those people out. (And property values still went down.) Just because you have a zoning department, does not mean it will stop those people from doing what they did. It only hurts those people that do play by the rules.

Mason, you are quick to through that word around, maybe you should look in the mirror 1st before you start sling it around. I know what my own experiance was as were my families. This whole argument is about how much power you want to give your local government. Remember absolute power corrupts absolutely. Do you want to be a sheep? BAh, BAh!!!